Mom drops lawsuit in missing boy case

Kyron Horman disappeared three years ago when he was 7 and has never been found; no arrests

PORTLAND — The mother of an Oregon boy who vanished three years ago dropped a lawsuit on Tuesday that was intended to force the child's stepmother to disclose what she might know about the disappearance.

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By The Associated Press

MailTribune.com

By The Associated Press

Posted Jul. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 31, 2013 at 2:25 AM

By The Associated Press

Posted Jul. 31, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jul 31, 2013 at 2:25 AM

» Social News

PORTLAND — The mother of an Oregon boy who vanished three years ago dropped a lawsuit on Tuesday that was intended to force the child's stepmother to disclose what she might know about the disappearance.

Desiree Young of Medford filed the $10 million suit against Terri Horman last year, alleging the stepmother kidnapped Kyron Horman. She asked the court to order Horman to return Kyron or disclose the location of his body.

Young announced her decision to drop the case after a hearing before a Multnomah County judge. She told reporters the lawsuit couldn't move forward without information that police won't release because of the ongoing investigation.

"This decision today does not mean that I will be giving up looking for Kyron," she said. "My will and determination has only strengthened over the past three years."

Young's attorney, Elden Rosenthal, said the district attorney's office did not request the civil suit be dropped.

Kyron was 7 when he disappeared from his Portland school on June 4, 2010. A massive search came up empty and no arrests have been made.

Terri Horman drove Kyron to school that day and told authorities she last saw him walking down the hall toward his classroom about 8:45 a.m.

Investigators interviewed about 300 students along with parents, faculty and staff, and determined that Kyron was not seen at the school after 8:45 a.m. The school didn't report his absence, and authorities weren't notified until he didn't show up on the afternoon school bus.

"It has been three years since you were taken from me," Young said Tuesday in a message to Kyron. "And every day that you are not here, safe in my arms, is another day of agonizing torture."

About three weeks after the disappearance, Kaine Horman, Kyron's father, filed for a restraining order against Terri Horman, saying investigators told him that his wife had once approached a landscaper about killing her husband for money.

The Hormans are going through a divorce, and Terri Horman is living with her parents in Roseburg, 180 miles south of Portland. She has not commented on Young's allegations.

Young urged Horman on Tuesday to cooperate with the investigation, saying "I cannot tolerate the continued silence."

Horman's attorney, Peter Bunch, did not immediately return a phone message from The Associated Press seeking comment. He told The Oregonian that Horman's silence does not mean anything.

"The assumption that someone who asserts his or her constitutional rights is guilty, is contrary to our system of government," Bunch said.